Ambivalence:I can see how it could have survived the wash, but how in the hell did it survive the spin cycle? A human being spun aroudn a drum at those speeds....you'd burst every blood vessel in your brain.

According to the article the machine didn't have an agitator. I think it's the only reason the kitten survived.

My parents used to have a dryer that popped the door open automatically at the end of the drying cycle. As the dryer got older, it took two cycles to dry the laundry.

One day, mum was doing the laundry when, unbeknownst to her, the cat climbed into the open dryer to nap on the warm, damp cothing. Mum shut the door and sent the laundry for its second spin.

The next part is horrifying, of course; she goes back later and finds blood everywhere, and one very dizzy cat.

Her and dad bundle up the cat and rush to the vet; anazingly, the cat is mostly okay, except for the tail, which is so busted up that it has become paralysed. The vet warns my family that the tail will likely die and fall off.

Fast forward to the night my parents are going out on a date with another couple. The cat has recovered nicely, at this point, but that tail is dead as a doornail.

Everyone is dressed up, ready to go out. The couple has no idea there's anything wrong with the cat. Dad calls the kitty to the house so she'll be inside while they go out. It's all a matter of bad timing, really. Kitty ran in as somebody took a step. Kitty ran into the basement. Tail remained underfoot. Guests were horrified.

"Someone said to me 'when you heard the noise why didn't you check to see if the cat was in the machine', but how many times do you check to see if the cat is in your washing machine?"

Anyone with a pets and a freaking brain you ridiculous twit! NOBODY in this house starts the dryer, washer, or even oven without first double-checking to make sure that none of our 5 cats jumped in. And we always check it if it's making, you know, un-washer/dryer like noises like, say, a cat's terrified shrieks/meows. That's just us, though.

dragonchild:Casyle: "Someone said to me 'when you heard the noise why didn't you check to see if the cat was in the machine', but how many times do you check to see if the cat is in your washing machine?"

Anyone with a pets and a freaking brain you ridiculous twit!

This. Reacting to this suggestion with incredulity only further exposed these people as dumbasses.

We had a cat end up in the dryer once, and it wasn't due to any overt dumassery on my mother'spart. She was just in a hurry and didn't notice the extra weight of the load of blankets she put intothe dryer for a fluff. Our cat, who absolutely LOVED fuzzy/fluffy things and would happily purr, pawand nuzzle at them for hours, didn't usually make it a habit of going into the laundry room, butobviously saw the blankets piled up when my mom didn't close the door like she usually did.

Fortunately, the blankets cushioned her bumpy ride, and though she was a bit loopy from the heatthe dryer wasn't on a very high heat setting and after she wrapped little Tomasina in warm towels(not cold, which could have sent her into shock), she came back right as rain.

My mother was doing laundry. We had 4 cats at the time. 2 of these were born in our front yard and we took them in(the other 2 were mature Siamese cats). Both of these cats were extremely small and literally looked like kittens throughout their entire lives. So one of these rescued cats decided that the dryer was a nice warm place to take a nap. Again keep in mind it's about the size of 3-4 month old kitten and it's mostly white. So it would not have been easy to see in a dryer full of white towels and such.

So my mother closed the dryer and ran it again. She walked off to go do something else. Then she started to hear this slight thumping noise. She said that she didn't remember putting anything in the dryer than would have made any unusual noise so she went back to check it. She found the cat unconscious and preformed some sort of CPR on it. The cat came around 30-40 seconds later. It's tail, nose, ears and paws were all singed and remained lightly scarred for the rest of her life. But the cat did live. She had a good life and enjoyed another 10 years or so. My mom felt horrible about the whole thing of course.

Also keep in mind that these two cats were the only two of the litter that were alive when we found them. This was during early winter and it was below freezing at night and not much warmer during the day. Neither one would have survived more than another day if my mother had not taken them in. We bottle fed these kittens for months and were not even sure they would make it. They both had long lives(passed away over the past couple of years) and were well taken care of. So don't get too outraged at my mother for drying a cat....

Casyle:"Someone said to me 'when you heard the noise why didn't you check to see if the cat was in the machine', but how many times do you check to see if the cat is in your washing machine?"

Anyone with a pets and a freaking brain you ridiculous twit! NOBODY in this house starts the dryer, washer, or even oven without first double-checking to make sure that none of our 5 cats jumped in. And we always check it if it's making, you know, un-washer/dryer like noises like, say, a cat's terrified shrieks/meows. That's just us, though.

I have never had a problem with cats wanting to jump into laundry appliances, and I have known some exceptionally stupid cats. (And some exceptionally curious ones. And one that feared nothing.) The key may be to keep the washer and dryer closed unless they are being actively loaded or unloaded. And, like you said, keep your ears open.

Kejlina:My parents used to have a dryer that popped the door open automatically at the end of the drying cycle. As the dryer got older, it took two cycles to dry the laundry.

One day, mum was doing the laundry when, unbeknownst to her, the cat climbed into the open dryer to nap on the warm, damp cothing. Mum shut the door and sent the laundry for its second spin.

The next part is horrifying, of course; she goes back later and finds blood everywhere, and one very dizzy cat.

Her and dad bundle up the cat and rush to the vet; anazingly, the cat is mostly okay, except for the tail, which is so busted up that it has become paralysed. The vet warns my family that the tail will likely die and fall off.

Fast forward to the night my parents are going out on a date with another couple. The cat has recovered nicely, at this point, but that tail is dead as a doornail.

Everyone is dressed up, ready to go out. The couple has no idea there's anything wrong with the cat. Dad calls the kitty to the house so she'll be inside while they go out. It's all a matter of bad timing, really. Kitty ran in as somebody took a step. Kitty ran into the basement. Tail remained underfoot. Guests were horrified.

Canton:The key may be to keep the washer and dryer closed unless they are being actively loaded or unloaded.

I have one that wants to climb into the dryer whenever it's open with warm clothes in there, but I've mostly got her trained to just look from the edge now. Still, I always, _always_ "count cats" before turning on an appliance. It's pretty much ingrained now.

/ This is the cat that once briefly got stuck inside a wall, the little dumbbutt.// And trapped herself inside the bathroom all day by closing the door behind her./// Cute as hell. *cough*blonde*cough*

DjangoStonereaver:We had a cat end up in the dryer once, and it wasn't due to any overt dumassery on my mother's part.

It happens to just about everyone I know with a cat. The difference is that people who aren't retarded don't just walk away from the damned thing. You listen for a few seconds and if you hear some strange noises, you open the door so the flying furball can get out.

This was a top-loader washing machine. You're supposed to listen for a few seconds in case the thing is unbalanced anyway.

dragonchild:DjangoStonereaver: We had a cat end up in the dryer once, and it wasn't due to any overt dumassery on my mother's part.

It happens to just about everyone I know with a cat. The difference is that people who aren't retarded don't just walk away from the damned thing. You listen for a few seconds and if you hear some strange noises, you open the door so the flying furball can get out.

This was a top-loader washing machine. You're supposed to listen for a few seconds in case the thing is unbalanced anyway.

Jon iz teh kewl:dragonchild: DjangoStonereaver: We had a cat end up in the dryer once, and it wasn't due to any overt dumassery on my mother's part.

It happens to just about everyone I know with a cat. The difference is that people who aren't retarded don't just walk away from the damned thing. You listen for a few seconds and if you hear some strange noises, you open the door so the flying furball can get out.

This was a top-loader washing machine. You're supposed to listen for a few seconds in case the thing is unbalanced anyway.

I hate this woman. Not because she accidentally let the cat get in the wash... But because she did not check it ever, and when she realized her error she closed te lid on the cat and left it in there. Grrr

You Are All Sheep:Huntceet: I've got a gang of feral/stray cats around here. What are the odds I could trap them using an old washer or dryer. They're killing birds all the time in my yard and they need to go.

I always thought it was accidentally leaving out a bowl of antifreeze. Granted, that's going to get pretty much everything.

My Great-Grandma accidentally cooked her cat. It was in the 1930's and they were using the gas oven to heat the house, the cat crawled in there somehow. Someone closed the door to pre-heat the oven without looking and they had cooked cat.

shortymac:You Are All Sheep: Huntceet: I've got a gang of feral/stray cats around here. What are the odds I could trap them using an old washer or dryer. They're killing birds all the time in my yard and they need to go.

I always thought it was accidentally leaving out a bowl of antifreeze. Granted, that's going to get pretty much everything.

And accidently kill a neighbor's pet or a child?

Contact your local TNR group, they'll help get rid of them humanely.

why would a neighbors child be in your fenced in back yard drinking out of a bowl you put in a secluded area? you have a candy van too?

You Are All Sheep:shortymac: You Are All Sheep: Huntceet: I've got a gang of feral/stray cats around here. What are the odds I could trap them using an old washer or dryer. They're killing birds all the time in my yard and they need to go.

I always thought it was accidentally leaving out a bowl of antifreeze. Granted, that's going to get pretty much everything.

And accidently kill a neighbor's pet or a child?

Contact your local TNR group, they'll help get rid of them humanely.

why would a neighbors child be in your fenced in back yard drinking out of a bowl you put in a secluded area? you have a candy van too?

Still dangerous... what about a neighbor's indoor/outdoor cat?

Call a TNR group or the local shelter and then you don't have to worry about it.

I'm personally not against killing animals, but it should be done humanely and without risk to others. Leaving out anti-freeze is ineffective and dangerous.

I used to work at a middle school and a girl came in late one day, obviously upset. She'd put her jeans in the dryer to tumble for a bit, didn't see the cat in there, and well...things didn't turn out too well.

dragonchild:DjangoStonereaver: We had a cat end up in the dryer once, and it wasn't due to any overt dumassery on my mother's part.

It happens to just about everyone I know with a cat. The difference is that people who aren't retarded don't just walk away from the damned thing. You listen for a few seconds and if you hear some strange noises, you open the door so the flying furball can get out.

In my Mom's case, it was the classic case of having to do 5 things at once, and she didn't hear theunnatural thumping.

My brother did, though, and he heard poor Tomasina meowing and told my Mom. Now, my brotherdid have a habit of stretching the truth and playing pranks at the time, and she thought he was justtrying to trick her. After the 3rd time, she got angry (the exact wording of her reply has been a matterof family legend, but my brother swears that she said "Your ASS is meowing!", which sounds aboutright for her when she's on a tear), and opened the dryer fully expecting that she'd have to tan hislittle behind. Thankfully for both Tomasina and my brother's behind, he wasn't playing a trick thattime.